One-Shot - Queen Part 1
I sigh with frustration as I once again miss a fingering on my clarinet, while practicing my drum corp music. My tendency to be impatient is affecting my practice. Real practice is playing twice as slow as the original tempo, working out each note and rhythm. Not rushing, hoping to get it on the first try. Oh Snow, I miss the days where you taught me what I needed to know. Even though I have exceeded your skill, you would still be able help me break my music into sections to help me perfect and polish my skills. I sigh once more and take a break from this, walking to my bed and collapsing on it. I lay there for a couple seconds until I hear the tapping of someone mimicking drum breaks on the wall. In the next moment, a girl in a cowboy hat walks into the room. "Maggie...." I say, with a slight sense of muffled excitement. Maggie is my roommate, senpai, drum corp peer, and lover. She is a member of the battery(drumline) of our drum corp, and very talented. As a snare drum player, even I like to tap my foot to the sound of her excellent playing. "Oh my gosh, no matter how many times you speak English, I can never get enough of your Japanese accent! So cute!" she exclaims. "Ugh. Annoying," I reply and turn my head. Being called cute is too embarrassing. But as I try to ignore her, it only sparked the cowgirl's lewdness even more. She takes off her knee-high socks and climbs into bed with me. Maggie wraps her long, sexy legs around my body and my body grows hot. "Mmm...you're still such a tsundere, Claire. But alas, you're practically the female version of Snow when he was our age. Same love for pastries, same love for video games, and...same sense of lust," Maggie whispers in my ears. "M-Maggie...." I felt myself bending to her will. But before anything more could happen, notifications from both our cellphones ping. Both of us sit up and check. "Oooh...seems like we've been challenged, my mistress," the cowgirl says with enthusiasm. "Indeed..." as I crack a smile. In the game that we enjoy most, Dominion, someone has challenged us both to a battle. Dominion, a mixture of VRMMORPG and RTS, where people have what is known as "dominions". In a nutshell for how it works, you fight the enemy to destroy everything in their base, when you reach it. You may choose whatever style of warfare your "dominion" has. Such as Roman/Greek, Medieval, American Civil War, etc. Passively, it's open-world where your winnings from your dominion victories can be used to purchase stronger armor, clothing, accessories, weapons, etc(limited to your warfare style). When dominions wage war, you are teleported to a battlefield which generates several types of environments. Since there are obviously a lack of players, the game generates hundreds of NPCs to fill those spots So, as Maggie and I were both excited, we chose to put on our VR helmets and jump in. The process of logging in was pictured in my head, then the loading screen, and finally, I wake up. I find myself in our base in the open-world server, a barracks of many weapons and armor. Other players in my dominion have already begun logging in and prepping for battle, putting on their mohawk-style helmets. Our warfare style is Roman, as their excellent strategies intrigue me. Maggie, still using "Magkiel" as her in-game name after all these years, my general, is ordering everyone around, pushing them, and kicking them to hurry up. Her appearance, like mine, is very different than her real self. Replacing her brown hair, is black hair and she's much taller. She is outfitted with heavy Roman armor, with a tower shield and a straight sword. The not-so-cowgirl-anymore girl takes notice of me, and acknowledges me with a small nod. I nod back and take my seat on my throne. On the wall behind my throne, many players, out of respect of fear and awe, have the words painted "Tattooed Bitch". They refer to me as so, because I don't need to really prep. My ability exceeds any other player in this game. After all, we are undefeated. That's also the reason why I never get bored of this game. We get constant challenges from people who want to test our strength. As I lazily relax on my throne, a server message pops up saying that the battle will commence in two minutes. So, as I stay seated, I can't help but feel the excitement tingling through my body. Then the moment came. Lights filled our barracks from players being teleported into the PvP arena. One by one, players went and eventually, it was my turn. I closed my eyes to keep the light from blinding me and finally, it dimmed. I opened my eyes and found myself in the post-apocalyptic environment, "Dystopia". It was something you'd see straight from a zombie apocalypse movie. Abandoned city, cars left on the sides of the street, plants infesting the streets and buildings. In this map, the bases were located inside neighborhoods, on opposite sides of the map, obviously. Houses surrounded the dominion, hundreds of underlings under my command. In the middle, is downtown, connected by many roads and highways. I look around my surroundings and notice that everyone was once again in disarray. Typical during the early game. "Agmen formate!" ''I ordered as loudly as I could. Everyone silenced themselves and entered their formation and faced me. Magkiel took to my side. "Listen, as far as I know, our enemy is an American Revolution dominion. They have the upper hand in this one, since they have projectiles and explosives. But that hasn't stopped us before. Our ''legion ''is not so easy to crumble. Just follow me, and we'll win with ease, just as always." And my dominion responded "Yes, ''Legatus Augusti pro praetore Mistress Snow." I smile, pleased as always when I hear that. "Then let's go! Movete!" - Commanding these battles are stressful, but very exciting and breathtaking to do. Something new always happens. Sometimes, I have to create new tactics. As I was up against projectiles, it wasn't necessarily tough to defend, however, when my dominion has to break from their formations during close combat, it was a problem. I try to keep them as far as I can away from the enemy, until we mow them down at a distance enough to where I can order close combat. "''Testudinem formate!" ''I ordered. My troops scattered and entered into groups to form a shielded position, using their tower shields. Our enemy's bullets could not penetrate them, so until they stopped firing to reload, we stayed in this position moving backwards. When they did reload, I ordered our archers hiding beneath our shields to fire a quick volley of arrows. Early game, it never looks so great for us. Enemies use their explosives on us and our ranks deteriorate slowly. And the problem with the ''testudo formate ''is the lack of close combat. Both problems arise as in the American Revolution, they had knives latched onto their rifles. I was at the front of the formation, and because they kept trying to grip our shields away from us to penetrate us, I had to shove them off. It's actually fun doing that because it's satisfying when you shove your shield into their face, breaking a nose and such. Yeah. That was amusing. Since we're at a disadvantage, the enemy always thinks that we're losing. But I have a trick up my sleeve. I've used it once before, and it was the best situation to use now. To put in perspective, I'd say that half of their forces are pursuing us after they had split us up. However, what they don't realize is that half of my army also isn't here. I had brought them backwards to the main street of the city. Buildings on both sides of us, where a good portion of pilum throwers and archers sat back, waiting for orders from myself and the other generals of my dominion. From a distance, I can hear Magkiel yelling,"''Dimittite!" ''from a nearby intersection. Immediately, I called the same order and a flurry of pilums and arrows begin piercing through our enemy's bodies. It was rather bloody. Snow would've enjoyed this, I thought with a small aching pain in my heart, but it resolved quite quickly as I was still focusing on this glorious battle. A lot of the enemy fell, and the ones that survived the ambush ran off. Due to the latter, I ordered "''Contendite vestra sponte!", ''a clean sweep of the remaining enemies. With half of their army gone, I think it's time we invaded their base. I ordered another marching formation to their base. Some of us were picked off by snipers along the way, but very few of us were lost. At this point, I think it's a certain victory. As we neared further and further, we were met with less and less resistance. Something wasn't right, but I ordered everyone to keep moving. Magkiel removed herself to be at my side. "Mistress Snow, something's off. It's not a foreign feeling, though. This...this is vaguely familiar." She was right, of course. Something in my chest was telling me that up ahead, was something that I shouldn't concern myself with. But of course, I just threw it off as a form of anxiety and excitement for what my enemy have in store for me. I put my hand on my lover's shoulder and shrugged. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just fall back into formation and what happens, will happen." She gave me a hesitant look, but then relaxed and nodded. "You're right...this is just a game after all." And she stopped to wait for her platoon to catch up to the front. But as I kept marching forward, I thought really hard to myself. Even though games are considered harmless, it may not be the case. After all, look what happened to Sword Art Online and Genesis, and possibly countless other virtual reality crimes. Soon, the enemy's base had come into view. No one. Not a single enemy in sight. Our scouts also haven't come back. What the hell is going on? I ordered my dominion to cautiously enter enemy territory. However. Their neighborhood was already partially damaged. Dead enemy player bodies were ripped apart. It was like a mass murder, not a bloody battle. This chilling feeling. I know of it very well. Only few people are able to fight a mass number of players like this. My dominion continued to work ourselves into the base. And where they had planted their flag was a single person. His back was turned on us, in a hooded jacket. He was wrapped in many bandages and a helmet covered his face. The huge sword on his back was also wrapped in bandages. This man.... And he turned to face us. Fear creeped into my body. His helmet was was decorated as a drama mask. The same drama mask that a certain man had taken Snow away from me. The same drama mask that a certain man wore who we had thought was dead. It was standing before me, just as a redesign. It had the same smile. The same bloodred tears. The same fear that came from it. I took a step back. Magkiel, curious as to what had appeared before the frontlines, drew her sword immediately at the first glance of the mask. "Lucifer." The sound of the name made me burst into tears. Murmurs came from my dominion. "Who's that man?" "Why is Mistress Snow crying?" Lucifer, who had stared directly at me, cocked his head. "Hello, dear. It's been a while." He takes a step forward. Magkiel, who had her sword and shield drawn, ran at him in response. She took a swing at him, but he easily side-stepped and kicked her through her sword, breaking it in two, and nailing his foot into her face. Magkiel flew at an amazing distance. She hit the ground hard, unconcious. Gasps broke through my dominion. Lucifer looks at the knocked out Magkiel and says,"Ah, I recognize you. You're the one in the cowboy hat that was also in the group of the Winter Fox's band of heroes. Pity, you're still not the fighter that I thought you had the potential to be." Then he cocks his head back towards me. "Ah, and...Mistress Snow, was it? I remembered you as 'Claire' from our last....encounter. You take after your paternal friend by quite a lot. But are your looks as good as the legend?" Panic over Magkiel's loss struck more panic into me, but anger as well had begun to grow in me. I unbuckle my straight sword and point it at the monster. "You were beat once before, fiend." "Ah, and how many times were you and your friends beat? Countless times, if I remember. Snow alone wasn't enough to defeat me. Only enough to supress me." I faltered slightly. He was right, I can't do this alone, but.... "If you're debating whether to fight me or not, will this make up your mind?" And Lucifer begins unwrapping the sword from its bandages, little by little. Anger wells up in me as I begin seeing black and neon green. It was the sword, Noir. And Lucifer begins unwinding a chain from his waist. The chained whip, Providence. The default weapons of Snow, the person who had gave me salvation and a revamped purpose in my life. I grip my sword harder and I unlocked my "Queen Mode", a feature for when leaders fought each other. From my back, wings sprouted and my pink hair became blonde, which formed into a ponytail held by a red ribbon. "I will make you give those up." Lucifer cocked his head once more. "I feel as if I've picked a fun fight to pick." This time, he charges and we clash blades. Sparks flew. Blades swung. But I was at a disadvantage. Unlike Sword Art Online, players were able to dual-wield, meaning Lucifer is able to use both the sword and the whip at the same time. I struggled as I fought. He gripped Providence, caught it on my left arm and tugged. I howled in pain, as I felt a snap and a swelling pain rise. As I lost my defensive stance, Lucifer took the chance to hit me with the butt of Noir and I fell to my knees from the impact. "My, what a loss. Pity. At least you stood longer than your companion over there." I didn't know what to do. I had a broken limb and my head is slowly recovering from shock. I was in a daze. Lucifer sighed. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, I suppose. Make sure to watch your back in the real world." And he began logging out, but before he could, I grabbed at his leg. "Hm?" "My...father..." I croaked,"What happened to him?" "Hmph. That's a tough question to answer. I'm not sure how to answer that." "What...do you....mean?" Was Snow alive or not? And if he is, why was he gone for several years? Where could he have gone? "Even I can't answer certain questions, dear." I reached up at him and grabbed him downwards at me. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, MONSTER! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!" And I ripped his mask off, as he struggled to keep it on. Coming from it was long, brown hair which snapped up into a Mohawk. As the man under the mask opend his eyes, red stared at me. I stared in horror as I saw this man's appearance. And finally, the momental laugh.... "EHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTH!" Category:Story